Low quality of life in games development
As the Economist Intelligence Unit
has just ranked Ireland in top position of 111 countries for ‘Quality
of Life’ in their ‘The World in 2005′ report, worldwide quality
of life is once again heating up as important issue in games
development. Lawsuits, and a developer association speaks out:
Starting last week with a blog written by ‘ea_spouse‘, apparently a disgruntled partner of an Electronic Arts worker, which led to US games website GameSpot
to dig deeper. On a tip-off, GameSpot found the possibility of a
class-action lawsuit by EA employees over claimed unpaid overtime; the
company denies any wrongdoing, and claims they have acted lawfully.
The blog by ‘ea_spouse’, also claims massive working hours with
little over time, seeing EA as a “money farm” (which isn’t far
what is expected from a listed company). “Churning out one licensed
football game after another doesn’t sound like challenging much of
anything to me” the writer challenged EA for “safe and sane labor
practices for the people on whose backs you walk for your millions?”
But the problem of working hours, and other quality of life issues,
doesn’t just lay on one publisher’s door, it’s an industry-wide
problem.
In an open letter, the International Game Developers Association
called for a balance in the games industry, saying more “mature and
responsible” work practices can and in some cases already do produce
“great games, AND business success”.
The open letter from the IGDA in below in full, links to ‘EA: The
Human Story’ by ‘ea_spouse’, and the GameSpot news story are at the
bottom of this page.
Quality of Life Issues are Holding Back the Game Industry
Open Letter - November 16, 2004Despite the continued success of the games industry, the immaturity
of current business and production practices is severely crippling the
industry. The recent frenzy of discussion over impassioned testimony
about the horrible working conditions within much of the industry
attests to the reality of this often unspoken disease.As the professional association that unites the game development
community and serves as its voice, the International Game Developers
Association is deeply disturbed by this vicious cycle and is working to
better the situation. Improving the quality of life of game developers
is an IGDA priority.In tackling quality of life issues, it is important to realize that
poor quality of life is symptomatic of more fundamental challenges
within the industry (e.g., consolidation, ever-evolving technology,
one-sided contracting, lack of project management expertise, no
craft/job standards, etc), which in turn all need to be addressed in
order to truly improve our work/life balance.What’s more, game developers are sometimes just as much to blame for
submitting themselves to extreme working conditions, adopting a macho
bravado in hopes of “proving” themselves worthy for the industry. Our
own attitudes towards work/life balance and production practices need
to change just as much as the attitudes of the “suits.”For those who are looking to unionization as an option, it is
important to note that the IGDA is not a union and cannot “become” one:
the IGDA is incorporated as a non-profit professional association,
which has a distinct role from that of a union. Further, as an
international organization, the localized nature of unions (i.e., often
requiring state by state and country by country solutions) is beyond
our organizational scope.It is unfortunate that it has gotten to the point of engaging in
class action lawsuits. While some industry workers choose such legal
means to gain retribution, the IGDA believes that a conciliatory
approach is also an option.The reality is that there are game companies that have proven that a
focus on quality of life can lead to great games, AND business success:
BioWare, Firaxis, Team17, Blue Fang, Cyberlore and Ensemble are just a
few of the studios that put as much effort on keeping their employees
happy and healthy as on their bottom line. These, and other sensible
companies, realize that a strong quality of life leads to more
productive and creative workers. In turn, these workers produce better
games, and stay in the industry to share their experience with all the
passionate new recruits - helping to avoid common mistakes and
recurring pitfalls. Further, they realize that driving their people
into the ground is a short-term view that is not sustainable.It is sadly ironic that those who strive for success at any cost
don’t realize that mature and responsible human resource and production
practices will more readily bring them what they so desperately seek.
That is to say, regardless of the humane imperative, maintaining a
strong quality of life is just good business.The IGDA’s white paper on quality of life best practices has already
served as a powerful tool, but it is only the first step. Via an
upcoming “best companies to work for” initiative, the IGDA will provide
awareness of enlightened companies and their practices so that others
in the industry can learn from their wisdom. Similarly, the IGDA will
shine a light on the wealth of research and knowledge being generated
from outside the games industry.To aid in these outreach efforts, the IGDA will be hosting a
full-day quality of life think-tank at the annual Game Developers
Conference in March. Also, we’ll be encouraging our 80+ chapters from
all over the world to host local meetings and sessions to discuss and
explore this important issue.Further, the IGDA has two special interest groups that will help in
sharing knowledge and work on related issues: the Production SIG
(working to formalize the production process) and the Human Resources
SIG (hub for HR professionals). The efforts of these two SIGs, in
addition to the ongoing work of the Quality of Life Committee, will
ensure a diverse perspective on solving quality of life problems.This is only the beginning and we’re still forming plans. We
encourage everyone to get involved. We ask that you contact us
(qol@igda.org) to volunteer, provide ideas, success stories, resources
and any other relevant information. In particular, the IGDA is
requesting details on active and pending lawsuits to add to our
reference list online.We have no doubt that with everyone’s help and contribution we can
save the industry and art form we are all so passionate about.The IGDA Board of Directors,
Bob Bates
Jason Della Rocca
Alex Dunne
John Feil
Mitzi McGilvray
Brian Reynolds
Jesse Schell
Kathy Schoback
Links
EA: The Human Story, by ‘ea_spouse’
Employees readying class-action lawsuit against EA
Half-Life 2 is Out
The mainstream media might not know, and after all the delays, we
won’t believe it until the postman delivers it, but apparently since
12:00am PST yesterday Half-Life 2 has been released online vie the
developer Valve’s online download system Steam, and later at retail.
Half-Life 2 is graphical beyond any other game, and all reports so-far say the gameplay is as equally impressive.
To appreciate how the game looks, take a look at a thread on boards.ie’s Games board where users have posted in-game screen shots, some are even reporting “motion sickness on the level you drive the boat” can it really be that realistic?
This writer probably won’t wait for the postman, err, full Steam ahead? Err, indeed.